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Friday, 31 August 2012

Peach Melba and Pistachio Mini Upside Down Cakes.

As expected I have been completely inspired by The Great British Bake Off. The same thing happened last year, as soon as the first episode hit my tellybox I head for the kitchen to recreate some of their best recipes in my own special way.

The first episode the contestants made an upside down cake, rum babas and a hidden design cake. I personally thought this episode was a toughie and huge round of applause to the lovely contestants for making some lovely cakes! Although non of their hidden designs were as cool as this Damien Hirst creation by Jules over at Butcher, Baker.

Being a bit rusty in the kitchen I decided to opt for the slightly easier upside down cake, although rum babas are now firmly on my to-bake list. Alongside my bake-off obsession I am also having a slight love affair with the gloriously juicy peaches around at the moment. I was recently introduced to the wonderful Doughnut Peach (sometimes know as a flat peach or a Saturn peach). These weird looking bad boys are simply amazing, so juicy and flavourful. Unlike your standard peach, these squished-looking cousins are a lot sweeter, the skin is a little thinner and less fuzzy, and the stone is teeny tiny and much easier to cut out. They also have a wonderful almondy/nutty flavour about them which is simply divine!...

I defy anyone to look at the above picture and not want to lick the screen, I mean look how wonderfully juicy and ripe it is! Just look!

In case your wondering where you can buy these delectable fruits, I bought these in M&S, but have also seen them in Asda, Sainsburys and Morrissons.

Without hesitation I headed to the kitchen to experiment and come up with the perfect cake to highlight this fabulous fruit. I knew I wanted to do an upside-down cake but I didn't want to add any sugar or additional flavour to the peaches and felt that a large cake might not be the perfect canvas.

Also the rings of peach fit just perfectly into my muffin tin, so I opted for mini upside down cakes. I was slightly concerned that the cake might stick to the pan so I was overly cautious in my greasing of the tin.

I had run out of ground almonds, which was my first choice for this recipe so substituted with ground pistachios. The peppery pistachios added a really great flavour to the sponge and counterbalanced the sweet peaches beautifully. Also, the stunning flecks of green in the sponge added even more colour to these lovely little cakes.

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Peach Melba & Pistachio Upside Down Cakes

by Nelly August-31-2012

Inspired by The Great British Bake Off, this colourful little cake will not disappoint.

Ingredients

110g Unsalted Butter

225g Caster Sugar

2 Large eggs

150g Self Raising Flour

100g Plain Flour

25-30g Ground Pistachio

120ml Milk

1 tsp Vanilla paste or extract

2 Doughnut Peaches

12 Raspberries

Instructions

Start by beating the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time until fully combined.

Sift the flours into a separate, smaller, bowl.

Measure out the milk in a jug and then add the vanilla to this.

Add 1/3 of the flour to the large bowl. Beat well until combined.

Add 1/3 of the milk and beat again.

Add another 1/3 of the flour, then another 1/3 of the milk, then the last of the flour and then the last of the milk, beating well between additions.

Grease a 12 muffin tin well and lay a peach ring in the bottom, then pop a raspberry in the middle.

Pour the cake batter over the peach, about two thirds of the way up.

Cook at 180C for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

To get them out of the tin I simply run a knife around the edge of each cake then pop a cooling rack on the top and flip it over. Give it a bash if it is being stubborn but they should all pop out easily.

Yield: 12 muffin-sized cakes.

I absolutely fell in love with these little beauties, they are so colourful and vibrant, but they also taste really special. The pistachios add a slightly savoury depth which is lifted by the sweet peaches. Also as with all upside down cakes, the fruit juice adds extra moisture to the sponge.

Are you guys watching GBBO this year? Any early favourites? I change my mind with every passing week but I am really impressed with Hispter James from Shetland and Lovely Mummy/ Vicar's wife Sarah. Who will win? I think as of right now it is anyone's game, they are all amazing!

Yes! These will definitely satisfy my pistachio baking craving, looks like a great recipe - can't wait to try! I am a very bad baker and have not been watching GBBO - in fact, I've never watched it! I've been recording them this year so maybe I will finally check it out, I'm starting to feel very left out!